Some of the best Everglades Books

Here are some of the best non fiction everglades books that I have found. Although there are many more these are my personal favorites. You can find most of these by using the Amazon link that I have on the right side of this page and it will take you straight to books pertaining to the everglades, from there you can refine the search. If some of these are not found on Amazon you can find them by doing a Google search or even Ebay. The first is A Dredgeman of Cape Sable. Its about dredging the Homestead canal that runs through the Everglades National Park as told by the one of the men that actually did it. The next is A Guide to the Wilderness Waterway of the Everglades National Park. The Wilderness Waterway is 99 mile canoe trail through the park from Everglades City on the west coast of Florida to Flamingo at the southern tip of Florida. It has maps as well as landmarks and advice on planning this journey. Anyone
attempting to try this should be aware of severity of this trek as there is no cellphone service for most of way, dry ground is limited and the park service chickees where you can pitch a tent need to be reserved. You will also need a backcountry permit and enough food and fresh drinking water as there is none to be found anywhere. Keeping with the canoeing and kayaking theme is Fishing the Everglades - A Complete Guide for the Small Boater this book was made with the non motorized craft in mind and gives great advice on where to fish and how to do it. Also covered are essentials you should bring and a lot of good information can be found in this book even for the non fisherman. At last check this book was out of print and sometimes expensive but I have found it selling on Ebay for no more than it originally cost. The next is Gladesman and its another classic, it is
about living in the park during the early 1900`s. Stories about poaching, smuggling and moonshiner`s are all in here as well as good pictures of how they lived. There have been places in the park I have been that I thought I was the first one there, not only will this book prove me wrong but there`s also pictures to prove it. The Everglades National Park has to be one of the few places that is actually becoming more wild. The park service has actually razed many dwellings and structures over the years to revert back to being wild. Which is why you will see pictures of cars back in places you cant even walk to anymore or houses and camps that used to be home to many people during the early years before and up to the creation of the park. Some structures can still be found but will not be there for long because they are not maintained. The next four books are all by Charlton
Tebeau and focus on human habitation in the park and the everglades in general and are all worth reading.The Story of the Chokoloskee Bay Country has information as told by Ted Smallwood an early settler of the town of Chokoloskee. And finally Orchids and other airplants of the Everglades National Park by Frank C. Craighead is very good especially if you have an interest in orchids but still a good read none the less. There is also a
trio of books by award winning author Peter Matthiessen that take place in the everglades and revolve around E.J. Watson a shady character and early settler around Chokoloskee. I also see that now he morphed the three books into on with extra material and characters called Shadow Country. These books are all novels and with Shadow Country bringing it all together at 912 pages I will have to check that one out.